1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cursor moving system by a pointing device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A pointing device is one which permits a cursor for indicating a figure, character and etc., on a screen to freely travel on the screen, and is popular as simple pointing means of a computer system.
As such a pointing device, a so-called mouse is most broadly used. The mouse is classified roughly into two types, one of which is a mechanical type of mouse wherein a travelling distance is obtained in response to rotation of a ball contained in a mouse main body, and another of which is an optical type of mouse wherein a travelling distance is obtained in response to reflection of the light emitted from a mouse main body. To either type of mouse, however, the same cursor moving system can be applicable.
A conventional cursor moving system employed by the mouse will be explained hereinafter. A processing apparatus, to which the mouse is connected, is provided with a designated-area management unit which provides processing for display on a screen of areas to be designated such as windows and icons having figures, characters and so on which are objects to be indicated by a cursor, and a cursor position management unit which provides processing for movement of a cursor indication position on the screen according to a moving operation of the mouse main body.
In such a system, there is provided such a control that at the time of the moving operation of the mouse main body, first, the cursor position management unit recognizes the current position of the cursor on the screen, and then takes in regular intervals of time travelling direction information and travelling amount information output from the mouse main body to modify the previously recognized current position information based on those travelling direction information and travelling, amount information, so that the cursor sequentially travels to the current position after the modification. Thus, the cursor may be continuously traversed across the screen by an amount corresponding to the amount of movement provided by the mouse main body.
According to the conventional cursor moving system as stated above, however, an amount of travel of the cursor on the screen is always given by certain ratios with an amount of travel of the mouse main body. Thus, if it is desired to travel on the screen over the large distance, then the mouse main body also would be obliged to move over the large distance. Consequently, in such an environment that a large space as a moving space for the mouse main body cannot be secured, one would be obliged to repeatedly move the mouse main body, thereby increasing a time for operation of the mouse. This causes problems such as deterioration of work efficiency, and increment of an operator's load.
Further, in such a case where a cursor, which is located in a specific window on a screen, is shifted to an icon which is a great distance from the window, not only must the mouse travel a great distance in a direction coupling the window and the icon, but also it is necessary for an operator to visually confirm whether or not the cursor has properly entered within a frame of the icon. This point further augments an operator's load by requiring the operator to use great caution, and thus causes deterioration of work efficiency.